Page 94 of Wild Scottish Beauty

“Would it make you feel better if we moved some of our important stuff out? To your place? Just in case?”

“I think so, yeah. Just to be on the safe side? Maybe we stay at my place?”

“I’m fine with that, if it makes you feel better.”

“I don’t know what’s better. To be on site if a fire starts or to be away?”

“Again. Alarms. They’ll alert me quickly. I’d be more comfortable keeping you at the castle.”

“Keeping me,” I snorted, turning to look up at him, “like a maiden in the tower.”

“Do you need rescuing, darling?” Ramsay leaned down, stealing my answer with his lips.

I didn’t need rescuing, no, but somehow, I felt like Ramsay had managed to do so anyway. I’d been lost, and landing here, with him, had given me a foundation that I hadn’t known I’d needed. That being said, this was still so new, and I had a habit of jumping into things headfirst without looking for a safe landing. I needed to remind myself to take this day by day or soon I’d be designing my wedding dress before the man even told me he loved me.

We needed to speak to Miles. That would be a good first step.

“I have to hop on that call.” Ramsay backed up, brushing a thumb across my lip, and smiled softly. “Don’t worry, Willow. I’ll take care of you.”

That’s what part of me was afraid of. I was supposed totake care of myself, wasn’t I? To prove I could do this on my own? Torn between wanting to prove to everyone that I could be a successful designer in my own right and loving this budding professional collaboration I had going with Ramsay, I watched him walk away, worry still hovering in my heart.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Willow

The preparations for the cèilidh that night were in full swing at MacAlpine Castle. True to his word, Ramsay had packed his truck full of anything we were worried about for a fire, including special-order fabrics, any personal mementos he cared for, as well as business papers and legal documents. Lachlan had ribbed him about moving up in the world when he’d seen all the boxes but had quickly helped move his stuff up to my apartment where we’d stored it in the spare bedroom. I’d appreciated that even though it was a deep inconvenience to move everything from the shop, Ramsay hadn’t complained once.

Again, he’d listened and trusted my insight.And again, I wanted to tell him that I truly loved him.

We’d agreed that we’d just bring the bolts of fabric for the day’s work with us down to the shop and transport itback at night. It would be devastating to lose some of those custom fabrics, especially with how long they took to make. If it took a few moments longer to bring each roll of fabric with us each day, so be it.

I just wondered how long we could operate that way. There’d been no timeline on when this supposed fire would start, and I’d been anxious all day thinking about it.

Calvin had been invited for a playdate with Archie in the library so I could finish my outfit and help with the dance preparation. I carried him downstairs, eyes peeled for a sudden Clyde appearance, and pushed open the door to the library, pleased that I’d successfully navigated the winding castle hallways to find it.

Pushing the door open, my mouth dropped open at the chaos I found.

“What the?—”

“Och, lass, come in, come in. We’re having a bit of a game.” Archie motioned me over to where he crouched in front of a lounge chair, lecturing Sir Buster. But it wasn’t the dogs that I gaped at.

Two gnome statues, a man and a woman, two hedgehogs, and Brice were all lined up in a row on the carpet.

Let me rephrase that.

Two gnomes.

Real, live, moving gnomes.

Apparently, once they’d decided I was cool, or whatever, they’d snapped out of their statue mode and immediately started arguing with each other.

“You’re not going to the dance without me.”

“Maybe I’ll meet one of the castle gnomes.” The femalegnome fluffed her hair, giving the male gnome, who wore a kilt and had tattoos on his arm, a wink.

“You can meet them all you want. You’re coming home with me, lass.”

“Um,” I said, waving awkwardly at them. “Hi.”

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